Saturday, August 27, 2011

Usually, moms who have their kids in public school are saying at the end of summer, "I can't wait for school to start!" Moms who homeschool might say, "I'm not ready for school to start yet!" But this year, I can honestly say I AM SO HAPPY THAT SCHOOL HAS STARTED!!!

We've had such a busy, crazy summer it has really thrown me for a loop. We've really not had much time to enjoy the summer at a leisurely pace. And I've had very little, next to no time to get this year's school ready. I spent all last week frantically working up our routines and plans for the year. I finally got nearly everything done. I worked on a few new things, but mostly we are following our 4 year rotation with only small changes.

This year Audrey is 10th grade, Austin is 7th, Thomas is 5th, Emma is 4th and Henry is the King of Preschool Chaos! Here's what we're studying this year:

Pearl of Great Price and The Old Testament

Chemistry (Audrey has her own outside-the-home class on this, the rest of us are studying it together)

Ancient History

Foundations in English (Literary periods, special literary forms, writing skills; we'll also study Literature that connects to what we're studying in history)

Geography (we have made this a part of our yearly routine, studying countries from different regions of the globe....this year we're at The Americas, we'll also obviously study geography as part of our ancient history)

Writing (we're putting a special emphasis on this for this year, doing writing exercises above our usual English work)

Math, Grammar, Spelling

Latin and Greek word roots

Latin (as a foreign language)

Tennis (Audrey and Austin)

Swimming (all the kids except Henry)

Audrey will also be studying:

Spanish

Home Economics

This week has gone pretty well. I always experiment with slightly new ways of ordering our homeschool days and weeks. This year I'm setting Thursday as mostly an activity/project day and Friday as Field Trip day. Field trips are something that have gotten away from me over the last couple of years. I really want to get back into those. If you know of any cool places to go, let me know! I've had to make a few tweaks, but overall it's been a successful routine. (I tend toward routines rather than rigid schedules....I find I start to become a slave to the clock when I schedule each minute.)

Here are some photos from this week. I always say I'm going to take pics on the first day of homeschool, but I'm always so excited and busy that first day, I always forget!

Audrey hard at work on math

Austin practicing piano

Austin in a new favorite reading spot on the stairs

Thomas doing math on the couch

Emma....being.....Emma

Austin preferred to play with the trees.

Our field trip to the Fossil Museum....yeah, thanks Aurora Fossil Museum for telling me on the phone that very morning that you would be open till 12 noon. 10:30am is not 12noon. Just sayin.

Audrey, not really interested in digging.

Thomas enjoyed it though

And Emma.

They were the only ones willing to get dirty.

Well, except Henry.

Austin and Audrey did make themselves useful "holding up" this sign.

Half of our finds. Not a lot of luck at the digging pit today.

My advice....if you call the Fossil Museum to see what their hours are that day, make sure you state the obvious to them: "I am asking you this information because I am coming today. Obviously. So please be open." Then repeat.

Thomas got his Webelos badge this week, too.

Since our emphasis this year is on art, we started working with pastels and charcoals this week.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Thomas turned 11 on Saturday, but with family out of town, we decided to wait until tonight to celebrate. He asked for this Reese's Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake and I was happy to oblige. The recipe will be up in a couple of weeks on my recipe blog, Mormon Mavens.

The finished cake....that frosting is SUBLIME!!!

Oooohhhhh....pretty candles.....

How to Train Your Dragon, book 2....and Despicable Me....SCORE!!!

Oh, and he also received a letter from Hogwart's. You know, once you turn 11 you can go to wizarding school. Dumbledore (Audrey) wrote it himself and sealed it with real wax. I hear it was delivered by an owl, but I can't confirm that.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Gotta put a quick plug in for the recipe blog I started with a bunch of great ladies. It's called Mormon Mavens in the Kitchen. We just started a couple of weeks ago, but we are starting to build up a nice collection of recipes. Go check it out. Parts of the blog are still under construction, so pardon our dust!